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Easily the best commercial of the Super Bowl. I hope the GoDaddy people were taking notes. Because some model making out with a nerd has nothing on this commercial. Bravo RAM you made me want to buy a truck.

Here is the full transcript of the ad:

“And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, “I need a caretaker.” So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the field, milk cows again, eat supper, then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board.” So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt and watch it die, then dry his eyes and say,’Maybe next year,’ I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from an ash tree, shoe a horse with hunk of car tire, who can make a harness out hay wire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. Who, during planting time and harvest season will finish his 40-hour week by Tuesday noon and then, paining from tractor back, put in another 72 hours.” So God made the farmer.

God said, “I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bales, yet gentle enough to yean lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-comb pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the leg of a meadowlark.”

It had to be somebody who’d plow deep and straight and not cut corners. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed, and brake, and disk, and plow, and plant, and tie the fleece and strain the milk, . Somebody who’d bale a family together with the soft, strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh, and then sigh and then reply with smiling eyes when his son says that he wants to spend his life doing what Dad does. “So God made a farmer.””

After the unspeakable events of last friday there are not words that make sense of what took place. There are no words that can be said that would help bring comfort. Our nation is overcome with a collective sense of grief. Any time a child dies it is hard to understand, digest or explain. When multiple children die it’s horrific.

The question I hear most parents saying and I find myself thinking. “How do I send my kids to school on monday?” My wife asked me this very question here is how I responded perhaps it will help another parent out there. Here is why I am sending my kids to school tomorrow.

1. We as parents must create an environment where our kids can thrive and can become all that God has designed them to be. We can not however protect and shield our kids from everything. We have to demonstrate to our kids through any way that we can that ultimately we trust God more than anything. Christ is our cornerstone he is the reference point of our life. When life is good He is that reference point when life is painful He is our source He is our life. Our hope as a parent can never lie wholly in our ability to keep our kids from harm, our hope has to be ultimately in Jesus alone.

2. See Christ as more valuable than anything else. – Paul says in Philippians “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” He understood something we so often forget. If Jesus is truly most valuable to us if we lose everything in life we are ok because we have Jesus. If we die we win in death because we get Jesus.

3. Sin produces death. I believe more than any political stance that the events of last friday are more about us seeing the results of us trying to live our lives apart from Christ. What gives me hope is that Jesus came to bring us hope and He is coming again to make all the sad things untrue.

The last thing I believe we should do as parents is boil this horrible event down to a republican/democrat thing. Our roll as a Christ follower is to point people to Jesus, to pray for those effected and to not pull away from the world or shield our children from the world as it grows darker but to do as exiled Jews were commanded in Jeremiah “seek the welfare of the city, build houses, plant gardens….take wives and have sons and daughters.” In times like these we need to demonstrate to our kids what it means to draw near to God.

Jeremiah 29:4-14
4“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,a9for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD.

10“For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfareb and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

Here are two great posts from John Piper who is exactly one million times more eloquent than I.

Well I’m not sure that is true. I think lots more things will be invented. I would argue that much of what we now call invention is more innovation that invention. As we head into the future I strongly believe that invention will slow down and innovation will increase. As a kid we grew up hearing stories of great inventors like Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. Our kids will grow up hearing of great innovators like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg.

I have this long standing belief that our school systems (not referring to teachers here but rather the system as a whole) are built to teach our kids how to be good factory workers. Our educational system is teaching our kids to be good line workers, inventors, and how to work with things that we know to be true. Our school system and most of us being a product of that system still believe that there is only one right way to do anything.

What should we as parents be teaching our kids? What should the school system be teaching our kids? Innovation. In school system and even at home we train our kids to think concrete thoughts which is good but kids also need to think outside the box. We give them to many situations where there is only one right answer. The more we teach our kids to look at every problem in light of the possible solutions we will be training them to be innovators.

I asked my oldest boy to move a pile of leaves and told him he could take them to the leaf pile one handful at a time or he could use the tools available to him. After much debate about the usefulness of each tool we settled on a trash bag we could fill and take only one trip to the leaf pile. I helped him see the importance of as Andy Stanley says “going further faster.”

Don’t get me wrong. I understand that inventions are important and will still take place. I just believe that going forward those who will shape culture will be innovators not inventors. I want my kids to be innovators. Innovators are leaders, innovators make change, innovators help to fix the brokenness of our world one innovation at a time.

1. Other Godly examples – One of the things I remember best from my years in Christian School was the teachers that taught me. Most Christian schools don’t pay their teachers a lot as a result the people who do teach are very passionate about what they do and the passion reaches the kids. I remember many of the Godly teachers that influenced my life. That is priceless to see another adult telling you the same thing your parents are is invaluable.

2. Christian Perspective - History from the view point of our christian faith is never going to be taught in a public school setting. I know that some of the curriculum Public schools choice is less than desirable from a faith perspective. Sending your kids to a school where they learn that History is “His story” (what a good christian school child I am, I still remember History is “His Story”). Having that base of knowledge is so important especially in the PC world we now live in. Truth is truth it’s not always pretty but if we try to change history to sound more sanitary we will never learn from it.

3. Smaller Pond - In Christian school I was a pretty good basketball player in public school I was number 235 and was you guessed it cut the second week of practice. The reality is that most kids will not play sports outside of High school. Going to a christian school your son or daughter with average talent will benefit from the ability to take part in team sports. Some kids need a smaller environment for their star to shine. I went to Christian school of 150 and a public school of 3,000 so I saw this whole principle play out first hand.

4. Lots of kids who believe the same thing - I agree with Reggie Joiner. Every kid needs another kid who believes the same thing they believe. I believe every Christian kid’s best friend should also be a Christ follower and as much as I want my kids to be friends with kids who haven’t crossed the line of faith I want their best friends to be Christ followers. Every kid need another kid, they can call, tweet or text “Am I crazy for….” and I will know that the answer will be based out of God’s word and not out of the random pile of teenage emotion. Having your kids in a Christian environment can be unrealistic but it could also be life giving it’s up to you.

About Me

My name is Sam Luce and I have been the children’s pastor at Redeemer Church in Utica NY for the past 14 years. Currently I am serving as the Utica Campus Pastor and the Global family pastor. This is my personal blog it is focused on leadership, children's ministry and creativity.